Applicators for dispensing cosmetic products, such as mascara, typically have a container with a threaded neck fitted with a wiper. An applicator having an axial wand is fitted at one end with a threaded cap and at the other end with an application means, typically a brush. The threaded cap engages the neck to seal the tank. The wiper has a diameter selected to allow the wand to pass and to wring the application means, e.g., the brush loaded with product for application when the applicator is removed from the tank.
Typically, the tank is a plastic component generally formed by molding. The wiper typically is a separate component, often made of elastomer, which can be snapped into the neck. The applicator is generally formed by assembling at least three components: a component forming an outer cap, a component cast in a single piece of plastic having a wand fitted at one end with an insert or part that can be snapped into the outer cap, and an application means, e.g., a brush, fitted to the other end of the wand.
The wiper is a component, sometimes an independent component, which is much acted upon in the axial direction when the applicator is removed from the tank for the purpose of applying the product contained in its tank. When the applicator is withdrawn, the application means exerts an axial pressure which tends to separate the wiper from the rest of the tank. This problem can be exasperated when some of the product gets deposited in and possibly dried around the central orifice of the wiper or in this orifice.
Furthermore, over time, the viscosity of the product tends to increase, which increases the frictional drag exerted by the application means on the wiper. As a result, the risk of the wiper being torn out and dragged along by the applicator is increased.
Given the variety of products to be packaged, it may be necessary to have specific application means adapted to particular products, in the same way that it may be necessary to use different application means to obtain certain particular makeup effects. But whatever the reason for modifying the application means, it is generally necessary to give the wiper a geometry adapted to the application means. In many cases, this may make it impossible to mold a wiper when it does not constitute an independent component, particularly relative to the neck.
Furthermore, in many prior art applicator dispensers, the tank and the neck form a molded component cast in a single piece, with the tank having a skirt added to the neck via an inner shoulder in such a way that, particularly for aesthetic reasons, the cap and the tank have one and the same outer cross-section. The product filling operation is long and impractical, particularly with mascara, insofar as a relatively viscous product has to pass through a relatively narrow neck. For commercial reasons, it is important for the product to be regularly renewed.
Examples of applicator dispensers are shown in the following French patents, and more particularly in the figures indicated: FR 2 850 549 (FIG. 1), FR 2 796 532 (FIG. 1), FR 2 796 530 (FIG. 1), FR 2 779 041 (FIG. 1), FR 2 771 907 (FIG. 1B), FR 2 762 494 (FIG. 9), FR 2 745 481 (FIG. 9), FR 2 648 686 (FIGS. 1 and 2) and FR 2 627 068 (FIG. 1).